Frustration over illegal dumping in Tipperary that’s ‘going on for donkey’s years’
Something needs to be done to alleviate an ongoing dumping issue outside one of Tipperary’s major towns, which has been going on for “donkey’s years,” a local councillor has said.
At the February meeting of the Clonmel Borough District, Fine Gael councillor John Fitzgerald said that issues of dumping at Condon’s Cross outside Clonmel had been going on for years, and was being done with no consequences for the people who are dumping illegally.
"At Condon’s Cross, there’s a dumping issue there at the other side of the N24 which is going on for years and years,” Cllr Fitzgerald told the meeting.
"It’s a high area of dangerous pollution at this stage, and it’s going on with shavings, household waste, broken glass and everything, they’re wheel-barrowing it across the road and into other landowner’s property there, but the situation is that this is going on pretty much with impunity at the minute,” he said.
The issue was particularly obvious at the moment, he added, saying that because the grass and foliage isn’t in full growth at this time of the year, issues of illegal dumping here are more evident.
"What we mustn’t let happen is that the foliage grows back – it’s laid bare at this time of the year – but the foliage is going to come back and it’s going to be hidden again, but I’m just wondering what the council can do because it’s been highlighted to me quite a bit recently,” Cllr Fitzgerald added.
Despite numerous motions, the Fine Gael councillor added, the issue isn’t “going away”.
"I know it’s going on donkey’s years, well before I became a councillor, but it’s not going away,” he said.
In response, Gillian Flynn, one of the borough district’s executive engineers said that she would raise the issue with her colleagues in the environment section to see what can be done.
"On Condon’s Cross, there’s a number of similar issues to that around the town, so I’ll talk to my colleagues in the environment section and see what can be done.
"The only thing we can do is go out and clean it up at our expense, but I’ll talk to the environment section because it seems to be bigger than that, so I will come back to Cllr Fitzgerald on that issue,” Ms Flynn added.